A Necromancer Collects
by Lesley Hart Gunn
Rusted pennies she found in
the pocket of a man drowned at sea,
A crucifix hanging on a ribcage
between a woman’s scars,
A pocketknife that barely grazed
the charging beast,
A lock of hair snipped by
Mother, gathered in pink silk,
A bicuspid from the wreckage, with
the dark mark of early decay,
The crisp exoskeletons of molted
cicadas, left behind,
the nautilus boneyard
of a vacant beach,
Promise rings and love letters,
hotel pens, expired I.D.’s,
IOU’s from families and lovers with no
currency but despair,
The orgasmic look of returning,
remembering, and wanting,
And the dying stars above her that she
mourns, being just out of reach.
Copyright © 2022 by Lesley Hart Gunn